Tagged: Mark Keating

Nathan and Sarah: the Announcement

Yesterday I went to a friends announcement/proclamation at the Yorkshire House in Lancaster. It was a Pagan event wherein the couple announced their intent to marry close to Midsummer 2011 and expressed their love for each other. Afterward we retreated to the comfort of H&N’s house for a festive Blót.[1]

What follows below is a series of images from the event (please just click on the thumbnail for a larger image).

[1] Note that this didn’t involve much sacrificing of Equine livestock, unless you count the threat to Dexter one of my son’s cuddly toys.

Coffee Tasting: Decaf Santos

Once again I visited the wonderful Atkinsons Coffee shop and purchased a new coffee (to my taste buds) for tasting. This time I selected a decaf, and I hear some apparent coffee purists cringe at the very thought of a drink without the apparent caffeine kick[1], and went for the Brazillain bean Decaf Santos.

Santos is named after the port in which it is shipped from, as with most Brazilian beans, and is an Arabica from the Sau Paulo region of Brazil. I did a brief internet search on the bean after my tasting and discovered that there is some contention, some have it as a strong bean, others insist Brazilians are smooth and mild ‘to the cup’ which sounds like a gross generalisation. The general feeling is that the Santos is a bean deserving of a medium roast and is strong in acidity. The internet also cautions against using this bean for “modern methods” of production, by which I believe they mean coffee machines, no doubt it is better suited to traditional Moroccan styles, I used a cafetiere.

Atkinsons, and the skilled roasters they keep working there, roast this bean to a rich dark colour, giving it a non-internet approved dark finish, and it is to their credit that they do so as this bean is worthy of that challenge. They also manage to reduce some of the inherent acidity as all I could detect was a slight edge of bitterness in the aftertase, a non-too-unfamiliar effect for me as I like my coffee strong so put a little more bean to water than most others. I would actually put the lack of acidity or bitterness in this bean that I tasted down to the skill of the roasters at Atkinsons as once again I have to say they know how to get the very beast from their beans[2].

The Taste

[Please note this is not a professional tasting guide, just an enthusiast, I have used language that is in the register of food & drink tasting only to sound coherent, even if there is some debate as to whether this is fully cogent]

The first few sniffs of the coffee, both before and just after adding water, gave me an impression of dark chocolate that was hidden amongst the very strong notes of licorice with a touch of roasted hazelnut on the after scent.

The taste of this coffee is strong and full-bodied, it almost wants to kick your senses alive, that dark chocolate impression becomes more of a feeling in the taste and there is definitely an impression of spices hovering in the background. I was unable to exactly lock down what the spices were but it was reminiscent of maybe roasted cinnamon or burnt nutmeg (maybe I am just dreaming of an Xmas break), this was distinctly an impression as opposed to an effect.

Once I had enjoyed an espresso or two I moved on to trying this bean with milk and found it to be quite wonderful. Those rich notes really shine through and I would imagine that with the right strength of cup it would make a truly awe-inspiring latte (my personal preference is 2 parts coffee to 3 milk with latte, but I know others like a much lighter fraction).

[1] Those of you in the know will understand that caffeine does not in fact give you an energy boost, this is a misnomer, it in facts inhibits the work of a receptor in the brain triggering, eventually, a release of adrenalin, which is the energy kick you get. Its action is to suppress not invigorate.

[2] This was supposed to be “best” from their beans, but beast works just as well, and thanks to @coffeehopper on Twitter for thinking I had some trace of Genius.

Walk to Work 3: In 3D

(Well it was in 3D for me as I was there).

Once again I had my camera in my bag and once again the walk to work was worth photographing as there was a layer of snow on the ground and snow in the air. This being Lancaster of course it was only a dusting, but it is rare enough to see snow in November in Lancaster that it is worthwhile taking and showing the snaps.

Snow on the cars on the street where I live

Just liked the angle

Skerton Bridge with a light snow fall

Wintry colours in the clouds

The quayside

(Sorry for the captions, they are a tad ordinary, maybe even lame.)

Coffee Tasting: Santuario

Introduction

I have decided to start blogging my coffee/tea experiences since I have been writing them down in my tasting notes in some hope of building a short history for myself as I often forget which coffee I have really enjoyed. this becomes a pain when months later you want to revisit a certain flavour experience.

The coffee is bought from Atkinsons coffee shop (http://www.atkinsonsteaandcoffee.co.uk) in Lancaster, purveyors of fine coffee and teas. The coffee is roasted in the shop by talented experts so the taste experience is enhanced by the superior skill of the staff.

Atkinsons Coffee shop in Lancaster. (This image is taken from Atkinsosn own website, all copyright and image ownerships remains with Atkinsons.)

Tasting

[Please note this is not a professional tasting guide, just an enthusiast, I have used language that is in the register of food & drink tasting only to sound coherent, even if there is some debate as to whether this is fully cogent]

The coffee is a regional winner (North West Taste Awards 2010) and so attracted my interest. The coffee was freshly ground by Atkinsons for cafetiere so that we could have an unadulterated tasting in the office (our excellent coffee machine grinds the beans to cup, so would need a thorough cleaning to make it acceptable for tasting).

The coffee has a soft scent which confused me as I wasn’t quite sure what notes I could detect, Matt (mst) thought that there was an element of nutmeg to it, which he could also detect in the taste, to my thinking it was a slightly nutty chocolate. The chocolate continued when on the palate where the coffee was very smooth and I thought I caught a zesty afterpunch which I imagine could be bitter if brewed too richly. Leigh enjoyed her tasting, she thought the coffee was smooth and not too bitter (an important facet for her as bitter coffees require her to use a little brown sugar when drinking them black).

For completeness I tried the coffee with a little milk (I know sacrilege, the horror, the horror) and found the milk a tad overbearing so a Latte would no doubt drench the subtler flavours of this blend, but a good cappuccino if made on the richer side would probably be quite nice.

A little research on the internet pulled up an article on Londinium Expresso (http://londiniumespresso.com/blogs/londinium-espresso-blog/1472762-new-in-columbian-santuario-estate-bourbon-variety) where they have tried this bean as an espresso, they note that the bean needs to be rested after roasting to take away the acidic edge that it apparently suffers from.

Since we never made an espresso it is hard for me to comment upon this, but I did detect citrus/zesty notes (which Londinium Expresso have as flavour of Orange) which could be linked to acidity I imagine. I can only assume that the reason it wasn’t acidic to our tasting is because Atkinsons know their coffee.

Walk to Work 2: The Sequel

(with title dues to Getty for his admiration of IT people’s blogs and their stunning vagaries of content and announcement).

So, today it was another clear morning, and it was also cool and frosty (there have been some small frosts in the past couple of weeks but not as widespread as this mornings), and since I once again had my camera with me I decided to take photos once more. I walked the faster way to work today so no pictures of the canal, just the River Lune.

My apologies for the rather boring and obvious captions ;).

The Ashton Memorial

Frosty Leaves

Close up showing the frost crystals

Looking out over the river from next to the weir

The Quay looking towards the Castle and Priory

Skerton Bridge with the river at a low ebb

Walk to work

Okay it is a pretty boring title, but it does explain the post rather well, so there we have it.

I took a long walk to work this morning, well longish, instead of walking through the city centre, I took a walk along the river to the aquaduct where I joined the canal that runs along the back of Lancaster and right past the offices. The walk is about 5km and is quiet and on a great autumnal day like today it is a refreshing way to clear the cobwebs out of the synapses and contremplate the tasks of the week.

I took a few photos, the best of which are below for your pleasure.

The bridge near to the Golf Course

I liked the reflection

Sunlight causing light trails

There were a lot of birds sunning themselves

.

Entering the area with former industrial buildings

Loved the angles in this bridge, I will have to revisit this and take more photos

The Roman Catholic Cathedral and ducks on the canal

Jaws 5: The Loan Shark

I have tweeted (to my Tweeples – thanks Mr Pegg: https://twitter.com/simonpegg) on my dislike for the rise of early-day loans, work-day loans, short-term loans before. It is not their existence I abhor (though I am close to it, I don’t think they are worthwhile components of our society) but the fact that they are allowed to advertise on the television and the radio.

Just like cigarettes, they cause a cancer, theirs is a moral and fiscal cancer but it is still a disease that grows and spreads and without management will become terminal. (Sorry, this is a fairly poor allusion and a touch offensive to all those who are suffering from the big C., I do apologise in advance if it causes you offence).

So I don’t want it in my mass media, thank you very much. I personally don’t want them to exist at all, but the legality of the situation allows them to exist. This form of short credit with its accompanying excessive fees is a blight. I understand that for many it is a saviour, but I feel sure that with proper regulation and support from local authorities low-cost community loan schemes can flourish and occupy the same space without the excessive profiteering of these companies.

I have even had one of these creatures follow me on Twitter to try and “educate” me of their true face, they apparently “provide a low cost service to those in need as long as the loans are repaid in the short term.”

Well, really. But since I did not have enough money for this month, and now next month I am down by the amount I borrowed from you + your interest, there is a chance I will be returning to you in the future. This is the sad cycle that many people cannot avoid. So should we allow these people to prey on them or set up systems to protect the vulnerable in our society?

I am blogging about this now as there is an early day motion:

http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=41619&SESSION=905

And a push by Compass to end the most severe forms of this behaviour:

http://www.compassonline.org.uk/news/item.asp?n=10636

Personally I say that you should push at your local councils, MPs etc., to try and support regulation to catch the Great Whites otherwise we are going to end up with a 3D sequel with Michael Caine* in it.

*Note Michael Caine was in Jaws 4 (Jaws on vacation – Cheesy dulness but a nice turn from Mr Caine as the hero of the piece) which was not in 3D, Jaws 3 however was in 3D and it was cheesy badness 🙂

Leaving Facebook

a.k.a. Facebook can go f*ck itself

a.k.a p*ss off you over-subscribed bad medium

a.k.a. once annoyed the comments get bad but you’re still sh*t

So I’m leaving (indeed)

On a jet plane (not really)

Don’t know if I’ll be back again (hopefully never)

Hello, you might be reading this because you saw it linked from my Facebook page, you might be seeing it from Twitter. it doesn’t matter the message is still the same. I will soon be leaving Facebook.

I have a hard decision, but I have determined to make it.

I am leaving Facebook.

It’s true, I don’t completely like it but it is happening.

It is because I have had enough of this service, the launch of Places was the last straw… Well, no, it wasn’t, the launch of like button was the last straw… Well, no it wasn’t, the launch of the new security was the last straw… Well, no…

Actually, it was all of these and more. My laziness was the only thing stopping me, but now I am convinced I have to go. For all of you bothering to read this who only know me through Facebook, find me on Twitter (while I am still there – for a long while yet I think), or email me, PM me so we set up an email route, or whatever, but please stop thinking that Facebook is the route – as it is not – I have to go,

I can stand it no more.

It is a shame as I own my own name on Facebook. I have used Dopplr. Twitter and others with Facebook, I have reached people, but that dearest ones is over.

But why?

I could do a long treatise on why social networks inspire redundancy in communication skills by removing the onus to be active in pursuing ones familial network. But I am not going to.

Instead I am going to rant.

I would like to point out hate things against a certain Facebook founder who stated:

“Having two identities for yourself is an example of a lack of integrity”

Well f*ck you.

Harsh words but I feel harsh. What kind of w*nk statement is that? The arrogance, the sheer ignorance. What the hell has your identity got to do with your integrity? That is either a gross simplification by someone who doesn’t understand those terms or a gross simplification by someone who does understand those terms but is talking sh*t.

I think it is an easy platitude but I am going to use it:

Those who know everything understand nothing.

We can all come up with the one liners but at least mine comes from a familiarity with the actual words.

So it is goodbye!

So long, farewell (and a song from The Sound of Music) I am going. Follow me on Twitter (shadowcat_mdk) or perhaps since we are friends ask for my gmail email and if you like use Buzz.

Please don’t rely on Twitter, for sometime soon it will be gone. I will give a few months for people to filter through and know me elsewhere where I will welcome them for the loved ones they have become (for I was selective in my Facebook attachments). But then I shall be gone.

No doubt one day people will look back and say “why did he do it, silly fool, when all we have is this marvelous tool”, well because for the reasons mentioned above – and perhaps others I will add in edits to this post.

For now, use this time to make sure we stay in touch – I may not have any other contact than Facebook and if so it will be sad to lose you. Let us use email, and those other social tools I am using for this time. But, mostly to email let us be consigned. True it may not have the immediate appeal and one has to choose who to inform, but surely that should be celebrated as at least you know I mean it…as opposed to: look, you knew I was here as someone I once knew told you so and now you feel obliged to contact me…

Facebook is no longer a tool for communication, it is the monkey we feed on our social back, it makes us feel good and wanted but is still a burden to bear…

So I am going…

Just not yet. I have to let you all catch up with me yet…I have to let you all know…I have to make sure all the services that this provides are replicated or replaced…Don’t I….

Will I really go…